Awakenings
by amour tue lentement
Summary: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Satoshi's return does not go as smoothly as planned.
1. Love

**AN: **I'm sorry that this sucks :( But I've wanted to write something for this series so badly agh.

* * *

_The bat was much heavier than he remembered. Colder too – he could feel the coldness of the metal reach down past his skin until it chilled his bones. He must have been out of shape. At one point, he was able to swing it for hours on end without breaking a sweat, but now… It dropped from his hand to the floor, where it landed with a thud. It rolled away from him, leaving a sticky red trail behind it._

_It was over. They were all gone; the demon, the spies, all of the people who had dragged him out and tried to kill him. And yet, it wasn't._

It_ was still there._

_His breath caught in his throat so hard he thought it was choke him. (God his throat hurt…) His hands shook, trembling at first, but then quavering so much that he felt as though he'd lost control of his limbs. It was there, watching, judging. If he could breathe, he would have laughed. They'd said they could make it go away, but he should have known better. _It_ would never leave._

'_Leave,' he wanted to say. To beg. He wanted to crawl out of his skin and leave his body behind, to curl up somewhere and be invisible just so that he wouldn't have to feel its eyes on the back of his head anymore. They had made him feel better, but they were all gone. He had the demon to thank for that, her and her followers._

_Followers._

_There was still one left._

_Of course! Of course of course of course of course—_

_He reached for the bat despite the way his arms cried out in protest. He just had to get rid of the other one, the fake. One more and all the suffering would finally be over. He'd finally be free._

* * *

Love

"Fold!" The blond girl in the green dress threw her across the table, not bothering to make sure that none of them landed face up. She huffed and sat back in her chair, folding her arms tightly. Her round face was puffed with irritation. "Just take all my chips."

"Ha! Satoko-chan, you're giving up already?" The green-eyed girl sitting across from her flashed a mischievous grin. She faked a sigh, shaking her head. Only two people remained in the game, everyone else having folded after their umpteenth defeat. The pile of chips in the middle was practically a mountain.

"Don't let her beat you," a girl who could have been her mirror image said, laughing.

"What?" Satoko demanded, face going red. "Shion, you're not even playing!"

"Mii~ I've bet all my chips already," Rika Furude said in a small voice, looking down at the table. "I lost last round."

Satoko turned to stare at the girl next to her. "Rena! You haven't bet anything yet!"

Rena Ryuugu flashed her a vacant smile. "But these chips are so cute! Rena doesn't want to lose them." Only she would play poker without making any bets. Satoko just stared in disbelief before going back to her sulking. It was better not to get in between Rena and whatever random objects she had deemed as cute.

"Well, looks like it's just you and me then, Kei-chan," the green-eyed girl, Mion Sonozaki said. "Unless you want to give up like everyone else and let this old man win."

"Never!" Keiichi Maebara said. He took what was left of his chips and dumped them into the pile. "I've got a good hand this time, I can feel it!"

He'd said the same thing about his last few hands, only to be sorely disappointed. Not that a few losses would stop him. Keiichi would keep going until he faced absolute defeat, making his subsequent humiliation all the more entertaining. Mion just barely managed to contain a laugh. She had already picked out his punishment; it was only a matter of wrapping the round up. Shion shook her head. Her sister and all of her friends were so predictable.

"Sis, be nice this time," Shion said, winking.

"I'm always nice!" Mion scoffed. She pushed her chips towards the middle. "Fine then, I'm all in too."

Keiichi slapped his cards down onto the table, nearly scattering the chips everywhere. He'd had three queens and two fives. "Full house!"

Mion looked down at his cards, not saying anything.

"Aren't you going to play your hand?" Keiichi asked. He gave her a smirk that could have rivaled Satoko's usual smug look. "Or do you want to just admit defeat now?"

Shion snorted, turning to look out the window. If anything, her sister was trying to preserve the suspense. Really, Keiichi should have known better than to play against someone who had memorized the entire deck based off of the scratches on the back of the cards.

"Aha!" Mion slapped her own cards down with even more bravado than Keiichi had, if that was physically possible. The boy's face fell when he saw the row of spades. "Royal flush!"

Keiichi nearly upended his desk. "What? How is that even possible? You were cheating!"

"I was following _our_ rules! Do whatever it takes to win!"

The two of them stood up from their chairs and started yelling, interrupted only by Satoko yelling at them both to shut up. Rika only looked back and forth between them, uttering a small "mii."

"Why don't you just admit you love each other already?" Shion asked, unable to resist. Both Mion and Keiichi stopped mid-rant, turning to face her with eyes as wide as saucers.

"Wh-what?" Mion spluttered. Her face went a deep, unflattering red. "D-don't say things like that!"

Shion rolled her eyes, smiling innocently. "Everyone already knows. Right Kei-chan?" She walked to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around him from behind, her eyes on her sister the entire time. Even though she couldn't see the boy's face, she knew he must have been just as red as Mion.

"Shion! Stop that!"

Shion laughed, leaning in to kiss the boy's cheek. "Well, I'll see you all later!"

"Are you going to see-?" Mion stopped herself before she could finish the sentence. She covered her mouth, eyes going wide. Subtle.

Satoko looked over at her, lost. "Where are you going?"

Shion forced herself to keep smiling innocently, though she felt as though she'd been punched in the gut. Lying to Satoko never got easier, but it was necessary.

"I have to do some shopping; I didn't get around to it this weekend." She faked a laugh, hoping it was convincing enough. The blonde girl raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, turning her attention back to the game.

* * *

Dr. Irie was already waiting by the time she got there. He called out to her, waving enthusiastically. Irie had a habit of assuming that everyone was as near-sighted as he was, and that no one would be able to see him from a distance if he wasn't waving like a crazy person.

"Shion-san! I was expecting you!" He said. _No, really? _"Right this way."

She followed him into the clinic, where she was immediately hit by a blast of air conditioning. The doctor had never been able to get used to the heat in Hinamizawa. Some summers it was nearly impossible for people to leave their homes. Still, Shion would take it over Okinomiya any day.

Irie chattered on as they made their way to the basement, most of it about the baseball team he managed. He bragged about their victories all the way there.

"You know, the team misses their manager," he said. "You're still free to come back any time you want."

_The team didn't know who I really was_, she almost said, but caught herself. "Don't feel like it, sorry!"

The doors slid open, but before she could step inside, Irie moved in front of her. He scratched the back of his neck, looking down at his shoes; all traces of his previous cheerfulness gone. Shion stopped, looking at him in confusion.

"Would you mind cutting this visit a bit short?" He took a deep breath, still not facing her. "I'm going to be working with him today."

Shion shifted her weight from one foot to the other, the tote bag on her arm bumping against her leg. Cut it short? Weren't they short enough already? At first, he had allowed her to visit every day, but because of 'complications' it became a few times a week. Eventually, Irie changed that to twice a month. And now…

Why should she have to spend less time with him? The doctor had him at the clinic twenty-four seven, and he _still _hadn't made any progress. If there were any complications, they were his fault, not hers.

"I thought you said you were getting closer to fixing him," she said, eyes narrowing.

Irie threw his hands up and took a step back, smiling sheepishly. "Well, that was how it seemed at first. This is all very complicated, you have to understand."

"No it isn't! You fixed Satoko, didn't you?"

Irie's weak smile wavered. "That was different. She wasn't in level five when she started receiving treatment…most of her medicine is preventative. Satoshi is…" he trailed off with a sigh. "Just try to finish quickly."

* * *

"'_For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo._'" Shion closed the book and leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "Wasn't that a good story, Satoshi-kun?" It was pointless to talk to him, she knew, but it was easy to pretend that he was listening. Normally, she could imagine his voice responding to everything. She could see his sad smile, silently apologizing that he couldn't reach out and rub her head like he always used to.

The only answer was the beeping of his heart monitor.

Her hand itched to reach out and grab his, to feel their fingers lace together, but she stayed seated. Irie had reminded her time and time again that this wouldn't be the same Satoshi-kun she loved. He was a ghost of his former self, the color gone from his face, his body weak. His hair had thinned a bit too. If it wasn't for the monitors and machines he was hooked up to, she would have thought he was dying.

He was deteriorating. Tears stung the back of her eyes like needles. If only she'd been able to protect him earlier…there was no way she would let him end up in that condition. She would have been able to keep him safe. There was no telling what kind of experiments the manager was using on him to have him in such terrible condition.

Against Irie's warnings, she reached out to smooth his hair out of his face. A small bit of it came out in her hands. Did he notice? Did he know she was there at all?

She traced a finger down the side of his face, trying to swallow down the lump growing in her throat. His face twitched.

"You…" she gasped, pulling her hand back as though he had burned her. Her green eyes went wide. "Satoshi-kun?" Her voice was shaking, as were her hands. The tears poured down her face, but she no longer cared. Did it mean that he was really there with her?

He twitched again, his fingers flexing before returning to their relaxed position. Shion gasped and covered her mouth. Excitement flowed through her like electricity. Her Satoshi-kun…he was there. He was there for her.

"It's okay," she whispered, reaching for his hand and squeezing it. "I'll get you out of here."

* * *

**AN: Once again, that was pretty bad. But agh.**


	2. Guilt

**AN: **Writing things in advance is really great. I should do it more often.

*****Epiphrine is adrenaline and part of the fight or flight reaction. Cortisol is released due to stress. It increases blood sugar and fat building, and takes away from the immune system. The A-7 bit is complete crap, so I apologize for any mistakes.

* * *

Guilt

"This is Kyousuke Irie, June 24th, 1983, at nineteen-hundred hours. The patient, Hojo Satoshi has been injected with fifty milligrams of C-120 with about twenty milligrams of substance A-7. Previous injections have successfully lowered cortisol and epiphrine levels in other patients, but have not been as effective on Hojo-san." The doctor took a deep breath, keeping the tape recorder close.

"His cortisol levels have been decreasing, though they are still too high. A-7 should catalyze the C-120 vaccine and reduce the body's stress reaction before the muscle relaxants wear off. The emergency sedatives have already been prepared. This will be the first test run."

Irie added the mixtures into a long syringe, flicking the bottom. He placed the tape recorder on the table, making sure that it was a safe distance from the comatose boy. With another shaky breath, he glanced around the room. As always, the oversized stuffed bear Satoshi had bought for Satoko's birthday so long ago sat on an empty table. Why the boy chose it was a mystery to him – there had always been something off-putting about its glassy eyes.

_If he wakes up today, I'll be able to ask him why myself._

The doctor unbuckled the restraint on one side of the bed, turning Satoshi's arm over so that his wrists faced upwards. Carefully, he located the intended vein. The boy's arm had several small prick marks from needles that had yet to heal; all reminders of Irie's failure. He refastened the restraint, piercing Satoshi's skin and slowly pressing down on the syringe until the clear liquid inside was emptied.

Nothing. Irie stared, his throat dry. Had he finally done it? Before he could say another word, Satoshi's eyes shot open.

The boy started thrashing against his restraints, sweat breaking out over his forehead. His monitor began beeping furiously. Irie rushed over, pulling the oxygen mask off of the boy's face before he took in too much. Immediately, Satoshi gasped. He continued to strain in an effort to move, pupils dilated in panic. Irie grabbed hold of his arm and injected the sedatives in the same vein, struggling to keep him still.

Satoshi went limp, his heart rate coming down to a steady rhythm. Stiffly, the manager put the mask back on his face. The blond looked at Irie through glazed eyes, the muscles in his face relaxing. His pupils returned to their normal size before his eyelids sagged over them, closing like curtains on a stage.

Irie leaned against the rail of the bed, closing his eyes and counting down from ten. Another failure. No matter how many times he tried and had faced the same disappointment, it hit him just as hard.

"This is Kyousuke Irie, reporting on the results of the aforementioned experiment. Once again, no progress has been made."

* * *

"So how was it?" Mion asked.

Shion sighed, twisting the cord of the phone around her fingers. "Not good. He rushed me out of there."

Part of her wanted to mention his reactions, but it felt foolish to just go ahead and say so. After all, who knew if he was _really _trying to communicate with her? Maybe it was just a reaction to being touched. Or maybe she had imagined the whole thing. Either way, there was no reason to get Mion (and by extension, the others) excited. Especially if it meant risking Satoko hearing anything.

"That bad?" Mion sounded incredulous. "Well, um. Sorry."

"It's fine." There really was nothing Mion could say. Shion just sighed, lying back on her bed to stare at the ceiling. At this rate, she'd be back to where she was before; completely unaware of what was going on with Satoshi. "What could they be doing? Before, he said he was making progress, and now everything's regressing."

"Oh, I don't know…"

Shion tore at a thread hanging from her sheets. "It doesn't make any sense! What is he, some kind of quack?"

Mion was silent.

Shion stopped, irritation blossoming in the back of her mind like a flower bud. Mion didn't want to talk about Satoshi anymore, she could tell, but part of her didn't want to let the conversation swing back to where it had started. Sure, it was hard for her twin to contribute anything when she hadn't seen the boy in so long, but if she had to hear Mion complain about Keiichi spending too much time with Rena again, she just might lose her mind.

It wasn't that she had a problem with Mion liking Keiichi or anything (even though Mion never helped the situation by hiding her feelings all the time). It was just the fact that Mion's problems were so _insignificant. _Keiichi's health wasn't hanging on by a thread. Rena might have been a potential rival, but no one was stopping Mion from going to see him.

_You have no right to complain! _Some part of Shion wanted to shout. She ripped the thread off with more force than was necessary. _Okay, calm down. _Everything that had happened was beyond their control. There was no use in getting mad at her sister.

"Well, it's getting late," Mion said. "Oni-baba wants me to go with her to see Kimiyoshi-san early tomorrow morning."

"Alright," Shion said dully. The same small part of her wondered if Mion was telling the truth about that, but she let it go. "Bye."

"Bye!"

_She's not going to sleep. She's probably there cuddled up with that stupid doll. _Mion had gushed about how Keiichi had given her some doll he'd won playing a game earlier for the past week. From the way she went on, Shion would have sworn it was an engagement ring. Well, at least Mion still _had _someone around who could make her happy.

Shion sat up suddenly, practically diving for the phone. Though she knew the numbers by heart her fingers felt clumsy and awkward as she spun the dial.

"_Hello?"_

"Kasai!" She cried out, a bit too loudly.

"_Shion-san, how are you?" _If her outburst had surprised the man, he wasn't letting it show. Kasai was as composed as always.

"Hey, Kasai-san," Shion said, completely ignoring the question. "Could you do me a favor?"

* * *

Though TOKYO was out of their hair, Shion had still expected the clinic to be crawling with guards. The absence of the Yamainu was almost startling. Kasai's eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses (why he wore them at night would probably remain a mystery), but she knew he would be scanning the building carefully.

"This will be easy," she muttered to herself under her breath. If she could escape from St. Lucia, her own personal hell, there was no reason she wouldn't be able to break Satoshi out of his. She could already see his face when he woke up to see her there; she could already hear his confused "um." The thought of it made her heartbeat increase until she was sure Kasai could hear it pounding against her ribcage.

"Are you sure about this? With the tip we gave him, Dr. Irie won't be back for at least twenty minutes. We still have time to turn around and go home," Kasai said.

Shion swallowed the lump that had settled in her throat. "I _need_ this. If I can't see him anymore…I don't know what I'll do."

Kasai took a deep breath, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "Alright. No more than ten minutes."

Shion nodded, leaning over the seat to give her caretaker a quick hug. He stiffened at the touch. "Thank you! I'll never ask you for anything ever again!"

"I'm sure…"

The girl forced a laugh, just to prove that she was okay. He probably thought she was considering something drastic, and that was the only reason he'd gotten involved. Sometimes, Shion swore she could read him like a book.

Without bothering to close the door, she hurried down towards the clinic, gravel crunching under her feet. Her heart felt as though it would go leaping up her throat at any second. The small parking lot seemed to stretch on forever before she got to the door. The handle was much lighter than the one to the door out of St. Lucia, and she'd be willing to bet money that it was far less complex.

Shion looked back over her shoulder, not sure what she was expecting. She pulled a pin out of her hair. On the first try it slipped between her sweaty fingers, landing on the ground with a _plink._

_Shit shit shit—_

She dropped down to her knees, feeling around blindly for the hairpin. _Thank god. _That time she wiped her hands off on her skirt before trying again. The lock popped open after two twists. Irie apparently hadn't expected anyone to ever try breaking in.

Shion stopped, unable to stop the shaky smile from spreading across her face. Only a little bit more! She took off down the hallway keeping her flashlight trained on the ground.

_I'm coming, Satoshi-kun!_

She rammed herself against the door to Irie's office before remembering that it had a pull door. The green haired girl fumbled with her clip again, jamming it into the lock. _Come on_… when she twisted it, the clip snapped in half. Swearing, she kicked the door.

She could handle this. This was nothing! All she had to do was find another way in. Desperately, she waved the flashlight around, looking for anything that could be used to break the glass. Old magazines and potted plants covered almost every surface. Shion nearly tore her own hair out. It was as though the whole universe was trying to keep her from reaching Satoshi.

"Dammit!" She kicked the door again, her heel making contact just underneath the lock. Something inside of the door made a dull _thud._ She stopped, trying to catch her breath.

_One more shot…_ The teen glanced over her shoulder once more before going back to find the coffee table. She pushed it closer to the door, wincing as it scraped loudly against the floor. Kicking doors down was an old trick Mion had picked up when she was younger "just in case." She'd run around the house, offering to demonstrate it for anyone who was willing to watch.

Shion took another shaky, deep breath. She turned, leaning on the coffee table to support her weight and kicked backwards, wincing when her heel hit the door for the third time. The door swung open, banging against the wall.

Shion grinned like a madman. Now all she had to do was find his ID card.

She tore through his desk without bothering to put everything back in its place, yanking drawers out, and scattering his belongings everywhere. She barely managed to suppress a laugh when she found it in his bottom drawer. Only an idiot would leave it in such an obvious place.

Shit. She had spent too much time outside. A quick glance at her watch showed that she only had eleven more minutes to get down to the basement and rescue Satoshi. Swearing, she ran down towards the basement door, nearly tripping over her own feet. She scanned the ID card with shaking hands, looking back once more.

* * *

_Well that had been a colossal waste of time. _Irie pushed his glasses further up his nose as he walked back to the clinic, trying to ignore the irritation creeping over him. Had someone thought it was funny to give him a call claiming to be injured? The half an hour he'd spent over there was time that could have been better spent. His recent failure hung over his mind like a dark cloud. Every day he failed to come up with a cure, the boy's condition only worsened. At some point, there wouldn't be any hope left.

It was the same thing they'd said about his father.

He shook his head as though he could shake the memories out. That had been beyond his control… Satoshi's case, however, was not. He would do everything in his power to make sure that the boy survived and went home to see Satoko again.

When he reached for the doorknob, it popped open without him having to unlock it. Strange... Irie pulled the door open, frowning. He could have sworn that he'd locked everything up before retiring to his basement to continue his work.

He turned on the lights. Everything had been rearranged. Shattered glass littered the floor outside his office, and the furniture had been pushed around. The door to his office was staring open, all of his belongings scattered on the floor.

"What…?" Irie ran inside. Why would anyone have possibly broken in? His heart pounded. Could it have been TOKYO looking to clean up loose ends? Takano had been taken care of, but he had been allowed to continue his research undisturbed…or so he had thought.

_His research!_

Irie yanked the bottom drawer to his desk open, digging through his belongings. The card was gone. He ran across the room to his filing cabinet, pulling one of the drawers open and leafing through the folders as quickly as he could. They'd agreed to leave him alone, so why would they interfere again? All of the business with Takano was supposed to have ended back when she'd been taken into custody.

Luckily, his spare key was still there. Irie exhaled in relief. Doing so seemed to irritate his neck, and he realized dully that if he didn't stop and calm his nerves, _he _might have ended up in a bed right next to the blond boy.

When he got downstairs, he was unsurprised to find it in the same state of disarray. Satoshi's bed was empty; the wires hooking him up to all of the machines had been cut haphazardly. Irie felt his knees wobble and go weak. He only managed a few steps before sinking down to the floor.

The bear's glassy eyes watched him from the other side of the room, disapproving.

* * *

"Will that be everything, Shion?"

"Yes," the green haired girl smiled, blinking back the tears in her eyes. She cradled the blond boy's head in her lap, watching as he slept. Whatever they had given him to keep him asleep was strong enough to keep him from waking up as she'd dragged him out through the back. "I have everything now."

* * *

**End Note: **Thank you, Michael S. Repton for that review :) It really helped, especially since I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do the characters justice.

(And there are a surprising amount of articles and videos on how to kick a door down properly.)


	3. Tension

**AN: **Originally, I had wanted to stick this at the end of Tsumihoroboshi, when they had the false happy ending, but Shion already knows about him. I thought it would be interesting to have more interaction with Rena and Satoshi, since she knows about his paranoia. Oh well, the lack of Yamainu crawling around made the breakout scene easier.

III. Tension

"Shion-san," Kasai said, clearing his throat awkwardly. He had been silent since they'd arrived at her apartment. He seemed twice as stiff and uncomfortable as he normally did, which said something. "May I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment?"

Shion looked up from where she had been holding onto Satoshi's hand. She was about to ask him if it could wait, but there was something about the way his jaw clenched that made the request die in her throat. Instead, she nodded, standing up and following him. She leaned against the refrigerator.

He didn't say anything at first, pacing a bit across the small kitchen floor. After what felt like hours of silence, he cleared his throat again. "When you had said that there was a problem at the Clinic, I had assumed that it had something to do with…what happened before."

Though they weren't in the village, mentioning the Yamainu had become a taboo of sorts in her apartment too. Despite their victory, the discovery of Takano's plans had left a ripple of mistrust amongst the adults. How had they lived with TOKYO's spies hidden in the village for so long? The fact that the villagers could have lived with the Yamainu as neighbors for so long left an air of discomfort that hung over them like fog. Thankfully it hadn't gotten to the point where anyone was singled out for "helping the enemy;" and it was agreed amongst the elders that silence was the only way to preserve that peace.

"I never said that," Shion flashed him a fake smile. He didn't seem to be buying it. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. But that doesn't matter anymore, right?"

"It's just-"

"This _was_ important! Don't you see, Kasai? I don't know what I would have done if I didn't get the chance to be with him again."

That seemed to deflate the older man a bit. "Shion-san, you're not taking this seriously. How are you going to care for him? He was in critical condition before, you don't have the equipment-"

"I don't need any of that!" Shion snapped a bit louder than she'd meant to. "They were hurting him! They were making him sick." She drew up to her full height, squaring her shoulders. "I can't let him go back there! Did you see him? They were killing him!"

Kasai swallowed hard. "I can't let this continue. I'll take the fall for you if that will make it easier."

Shion's heart skipped a beat. "You don't believe me?"

"The sooner we get ourselves out of this situation, the better," Kasai continued as though he hadn't heard. All traces of his uneasiness seemed to be melting away. Shion felt her own nervousness grow as though it was trying to compensate for his calm. "Chances are Irie-san will keep this all quiet either way."

"They were _killing him_," Shion repeated. "We can't send him back there to die!"

"Dr. Irie has been working with him-"

"He doesn't care!" She shouted. Kasai took a step backwards, startled by the sudden change in volume. "He's just their lab rat!"

She could see it so clearly – poor Satoshi-kun strapped down like a prisoner while they poked and prodded him, taking what they needed and leaving him alone underground. Did he cry out? Did he ask for help before they put him back under? The thought alone made her head throb.

Kasai was still looking at her. He didn't know anything, did he? He had no idea what Satoshi-kun had been put through. Well, if he didn't understand that…

"If you tell anyone…" Shion turned and opened one of the drawers below the counter. She never broke her eye contact with him as she reached inside it. When Kasai saw the knife she pulled out, he backed up to the counter. "I'll kill him and then I'll kill myself!"

It was a bluff. Not a very well thought out one, but enough to get a reaction out of him. She clenched her free hand behind her back in an effort to hide the shaking. Shion swallowed hard.

"That won't solve anything," Kasai said quietly. He could have tried to disarm her. Instead, he tried to talk her out of it. He'd believed every word. It took Shion effort not to let her relief show.

"Yes it will!" She had to remind herself to keep shouting.

"Shion-san, your neighbors-"

"It'll be just the two of us. No one will get in our way in heaven." Shit. Kasai knew she wasn't religious. _Damn his sunglasses_. It would have been much easier to read his reactions if she could see his eyes. A few tense moments of silence passed between the two. She could feel the knife's handle slipping from her sweaty palms.

He didn't notice her mistake – only the blade in her hands. "All right," he said slowly. He raised his arms as though he was trying to calm a wild animal. "Just remember, if it gets to be too much, then the offer still stands. I'll take the fall. I have to leave now, okay? Please don't do anything dangerous."

_Liar. _It was more likely that he was just going to try and find a better way to go about confessing. Next time they had this conversation, it would be somewhere she couldn't find an easy way to harm herself. And chances were they wouldn't be alone. It was only once he had passed that she let herself relax. Dammit. This wasn't supposed to be this way. Of all people, she had assumed that Kasai would be on her side.

There really was no one you could trust….

"When did this happen again?" The young man asked, turning a page in a small legal pad.

Irie had been so used to seeing Oishi as the face of the local police that the detective's absence was almost jarring. He had to remind himself that Oishi had already retired. It was a small relief. The doctor hadn't exactly been fond of the way the veteran detective forced himself on everyone, but it didn't make his absence any less strange. At least this Darui wouldn't smoke inside of the clinic.

"It was last night…around nine, nine thirty." Irie cast one last glance at the ruins of his office. He sighed. "I got a call about an injury on the other side of the village."

Darui paused mid-scrawl. "Doesn't the clinic close around seven?"

"…Well yes, but I was working a bit late yesterday. The call said that it was urgent…." Irie hadn't meant to sound so hesitant. From the look on the young officer's face, the story sounded every bit as true as…well, as it was. _There's always Plan B…_ "I just imagined it like this: a young, beautiful maid got a call from her master late at night-"

Darui's eyes widened for a second. "Oh, that's okay. You don't need to explain any further." _Thank God. _"So, a pair of keys, your ID card…is there anything else missing? Money or valuables maybe?"

_Yes. _"No."

"Is there any reason someone would need them? Could they access any of your personal information with that?"

_You could say that. _"Not really."

The young officer raised a thick eyebrow, but didn't ask anything else. "Well we'll try to keep an eye out for any more strange incidents. If you have any more issues, don't hesitate to call us."

Once the officers were gone, Irie sighed, sinking into one of the couches in the waiting room. He could feel the weight of it all pressing down on his shoulders. Sooner or later, it would crush him completely.

The doctor pushed himself up off of the couch and paced the room. It wouldn't do him any good to think like that. The only thing that he could do for himself would be to try and figure this whole thing out before….

Irie shook the thought out of his head. There was no time to panic about what would happen when Satoshi woke up – he still had a bit of time before that. How much time was a mystery, but he couldn't afford to waste a single second.

_Who would have wanted him out of there?_

The first answer that came to his mind was the most obvious. Who was to say that TOKYO had really stopped looking into the syndrome just because of Takano's hospitalization? The fact that his former "coworker" had been a pawn was less than reassuring. Wherever there was a pawn, there was someone with a bigger motive pulling the strings.

Yet if it had been the work of Nomura or anyone else up there, then why had they done such a messy job of it? TOKYO was meticulous with their work, and even more so with their cover-ups. If they really wanted to remove Satoshi from his care… they probably would have made sure he wasn't around to tell anyone about it.

Of course, there was always the possibility that Satoshi had escaped on his own. That was far less probable, but then again, so was the prospect of someone kidnapping him in the first place. Irie doubted that the boy would have been coherent enough to escape, even if he had managed to unhook himself from all of their machinery.

For a moment, Shion's face flashed in his mind. The way her eyes had narrowed at him still made his skin crawl.

He sighed. That was probably the most ridiculous notion of all. The girl might be headstrong and hot-tempered, but she wasn't stupid. Surely she would know better than to take someone home in that condition. She would probably be devastated when she found out what had happened to Satoshi.

No matter how he looked at it, there was no easy way out.

_Damn Kasai._

Shion had sat at Satoshi's beside for hours after he had left, trying to prepare herself for any confrontation. So far, he hadn't returned. _He'll probably do it when I'm not expecting it. And he'll probably have my father there with him, or worse. _Being with Satoshi again wouldn't be considered a slight against the main family, would it? It was getting harder to think clearly with every passing second.

She squeezed the blond boy's hand, taking a deep breath. He looked so peaceful there. Maybe it was just her imagination, but he even seemed less pale. _I knew that place was bad for him._ Shion traced the curve of his palm, blinking back tears. _I knew it. I saved you._

He didn't stir. Nothing seemed to disturb him. Not the argument with Kasai, not the phone ringing every ten minutes as someone wondered why she hadn't shown up to work yet. Every second was agonizingly long, each tick of the clock slower than the last. _I've waited so long. Can't I just have this?_

There had to be something she could do. Someone she could contact. But who?

Not Satoko…. She hadn't even been allowed to know about Satoshi in the first place. Despite the circumstances, Shion found herself smiling. She could already see the blonde girl's face when Satoshi returned, alive and well. And, if she had enough time to properly care for him, closer to her than ever. They would be like a family, a _whole _family, without people like Teppei or her grandmother to hurt them anymore.

No one would hurt them. Not as long as she was there.

When he woke up, everything was going to be perfect.


End file.
